Process of making coke and recovering by-products.



U. A.. WEEKS.

PROCESS 0F MAKING COKE `AND RECOVERING BSI-PRODUCTS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 25, 1911.

mum MN el ibo/wlmi if Es n. WEEKS, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, AssiGfNon.' ToTHoMAs n. Perron AND PnEDEnrcK o. MENGKE; BOTH or PHILADELPHIA, PENNsyLvnNIA,

Pnocnss or MAKING conn AND nncovname nrnonuo'rs.

Jeremia.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Y PatennaiPer.a,1era.

application mea my as; 1911. serial-No. 640,472.

To' all whom it may concern: v

Be itl known that I, CHARLES A. 'WEEKS, a `citizen lof the United States, and a resident of Philadelphia, county of' Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, have invented an Improvement in `Processes of Making Coke and Recovering Bil-Products, 'of which the following is a specification.

My invention has reference to processes for making'coke and recovering by-products and consists of certain improvements which a're fully set. ,forth in the following lspecification and accompanying drawings, which form a part thereof. p

The nature of my invention will be better understood by first referring to thegeneral method of making coke now in general use and pointing out'the objections thereto and then indicating wherein my invention overcomes said objections.

'When bee-hive o r rectangular ovens are used in making coke from bituminous coal and the ovens fired alternately, the upper part-of. the coal charge becomes first heated by reason of th'epresence of suiiicient air to produce combustion in the upper portion of the oven" when sealed for carbonizing. By4

reason of this lfiring of the coal from the top and requiring it to burn downwardly,l

-highly heated body of'incandescent coal andare decomposed or burned up. The tar and sulfur contents of the coal charge are formed between 200o C. and 500 C., and the amimonia between 500 C. and 700 C., and when the temperature of the oven reaches the carboniz'ing' stage for the production of coke, namely, about 1400o C. these products are decomposed, the tar burned. the sulfur content converted in the presence of carbon into carbon bisuld and hydrogen sulfid, and the ammonia converted l into hydrocyanic acid. The sulfur. content of th'ecoal being converted into carbon bi'sullid and hydrogen sullid, in passing upward from the lower part of the charge inthe oven, through the incandescent highly hea-ted body of coal located in the upper part ofthe said charge, during the process of carbonizin'g the coke,

said compounds will. instead of passing' Vcompound forms with the coke as an impurity to the extent of notless than of tlie sulfur containedjin the coal. This,

the usual process of making coke in the beehive and rectangular ovens, is a slow and wasteful one,the carbonizing is uncertain as to output, the timel of burning required is excessive and the contained impurities are highly objectionable, and the process is wasteful as to values that may be recovered. The only advantages are the low construction cost, and the production of a strong metallurgical coke.

My invention broadly consists in treating the coal to be carbonized in ovens'and the combustion carried on from the bottom up- =ward during the process of distillation,

whereby the distillates are caused to be positively drawn off through a comparatively cool upper zone and hence without changing their chemical composition, after which' the carbonization is completed in the usual manner; the by-products thus eliminatedv from i the coking coal being subjected 'to treatment for their recovery. More specifically the process and means employed may be described as follows:

In myimproved process of recovering byproducts, and the purification of gas produced during the carbonizingof the coal, I make a better grade of strong metallurgical coke, secure allv the advantage of low constructioncost, and good coke, and all the goed parts of the byproduct-savings of the costly retort ovens, in which the coal is" charged into retorts to which heat is'applied from the outside, re'cuperativelv or other wise.

In carrying ont my invention, I take the rectangular ovens for new construction as alo'rding the better type for myinvention, and provide a gas vent pipe tothe upper part of each oven, with a closing valve there in so that the ovens can be cut out of operation at will, said gas vent being in turn connected with a large gas main which leads to a gas cooler and settling tank 'where the dust and tar settle out of the gas and the as then drawn by suction into and throng a rotary suction washer where it is thoroughly washed and delivered, to be stored in a reservoir or tank. l n

In conjunction with the above described means I provide the bottoms of the ovens with inlets 'through which air," steam, or

both, may be admittedv into the ovens at will; and the said air may be injected by pressure or by induction from the suction the relatively cooler zone, by means of t induced bythe action-of the gas-condensing tower and rotary washer referred to above I also employ as part of my improved system, an apparatussuch as shown whereby v an amount of water maybe injected on top of the coal charge, and against the roof of ovens in order to 'reduce the temperature` and toA reta-.rd the consumption of the charge due to spreading and activity of the ignition; it being my purpose to fire' the coal'.

gases and other products are taken, olf under constant suction at temperatures at which they are formed, instead of passing through a highly heated zone of carbonizing coal, they are not ,decomposed and the sulfur will be largely eliminated from the coke,"

and will go forward with the other gases, the tar will not be consumed and the ammonia will not -be decomposed and converted into hydrocyanic acid, but will, if deusired, be absorbed by the water inl which the process of the gas is `washed during purification.

ln order to produce a strong metallurgical coke by my improved process, after the by-products are distilled from the coal, the air for combustion used in igniting the lower part ofthe charged coal is shut oli by vmeans of valves, the valve in the gas vent leading to the gas main is closed, and

vthe vent or ventsl used in charging coal to ovens are to be opened and the carbonizing Aof the coke continued to completion.

This new method of coking coal insures perfect control of the coking conditions as to firing, and shortens time of burning 4required, aswell as insuring-the production of a superior coke.

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 is a front elevation of a coking and .recovery apparatus suitable `for `the carrying out of my improved process; and Fig. 2 is a cross section of the same.

2 are a plurality ofV rectangular coking ovens having charging vents 3 and discharging ends 6 having removable doors 7. Vent outlets are extended fromthe top of the ovens by pipes 12 having valves 14. Each of these pipes 12 connect with a large gas main 13- which leads intothe scrubber or cooling'tower 16. The cooling tower is provided with pipes 17 for spraying sulfate liquor upon the gases delivered into "the tower. From the cooling tower 16 the gases pass by pipe 1-9 into the Asuction rotary washer 20 where the ammonia,gnot already absorbed in the tower 16,' is absorbed by the sulfate liquor in said washer. The purified 'gas leaves the washer 20 lby pipe 21 and may pass to a suitable holder for use in operating gas engines, fuel in metallurgical operations or for illuminatin purposes after being carbureted in the usua way. The sulfate liquor of .the washer 20 may be drawn off by pipe 23 and, by pump 18, forced into spray through the spray pipes 17 of the tower 16. The sprayed liquor collects in the bottom of tower and flows by pipe 22 into the washer 20, and in this way the sulfate 1i uor is circulated and becomes of uniform ciaracten The suction washer 20 may be of any suitable construction so long as it produces a suction or vacuum on the tower and upon the gases generated in the ovens, for the purpose of sucking them away from the ovens as rapidly s produced."l

11 is an air main extending from a blower 15, and alongv the series of ovens. Opening from `this mainl and extendin below the floor of each oven, is an air pipe 8 having nozzles or twyers 9 'for supplying the air to the bottom of the body ofcoal in the oven.

24 isa spray pipe which is supported on a truck 26 runnmg upon a track 27 along the series of ovens; and said pipe 24 may be adjusted into the upper part of each of the ovens by the adjusting vdevices 25 on the truck whenever it is desired to chill the coke in the oven before discharging the same. Any suitable means for spraying the coke with water may be employed in the place of that shown.

The coal vis fed into the ovens through the vents 3 from thehoppers 5 carried on the lorry 4 which runs upon a trackway along the top of the ovens. When the gases are to be drawn 01T tothe tower 16 the vents 3 are sealed by suitable covers.

-Brieiy stated, the operation of this apparatus is as follows The coal is charged into the oven through the vents 3, the doors 7 being put in place, combustion started at the bottom assisted by the blast from the twyers 9. The vents 3 are closed and valve 14 opened. The gases distilled from the coal are drawn off by the suction in the main 13 through pipe 12. The gases thus pass off without being su erheated by havlng to pass through incan escent coal at the to of the charge as heretofore occurred. A ter the distillation of the aseous or volatile constituents of the coal as taken place the valve-14 is closed and the vents 3 are opened to finish-the carbonization of the charge to bring itfto4 the desired. condition need be relied upon for this part of the cokv in'g operation. Vhen the carbonization is completed, the upper portion of one'of the doors y7 is removed, the spray pipev-24 run int-o the oven and the charge chilled by Water spray, and the charge ultimately dis-A charged.

The special' features of the process have'- hereto'fore been fully described and hence it will not be necessary to again refer to them. The method ofcoking coal herein described insure* perfect control of the coking conditions as to firing, and sliortens the time of burning required, as well asinsuring the production of a superior coke.

The gases which pass off from the ovens will contain ammonia which may be recovered by the means shown or -in any other suitable manner, though this does not Jform any part of the present invention.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is 4 1. Theherein described process of vcoking coal, which consistsfin charging a closed .oven with coal, burning the coal from the bottomupward to distil oii the volatileconstituents, delivering ythe volatile constituents into a common space within the oven above the coal, drawing ofi' said volatile constituents by suction applied to the common space whereby the suctibn does not concentrate a draft upon particular portions ofthe coal said suction continuing until the coal becomes fully heated from the bottom to the top, and finally shutting off the suction and completing the coking of the coal.

2. The herein described process of colng coal which consists in charging the coal into' aA closed oven, burning the coal from the bottom upward to distil oli the volatile constituents, positively drawing off vsaid volatile 'constituents and controlling the temperature 'by regulating the supply of airv to the bottom of the coal charge while the coal becomes heated from the bottom to the top, then opening the oven at the top and arresting the drawing oli of the volatile constituents, and continuing the carbonization of the coal until it is converted into the desired quality of coke. f

3. The herein described process of coking coal which consists in charging the coal into a closed oven, burning the coal from the bottom upward by a blast of air delivered to the bottom of the heated charge to distil oli' the volatile constituents, drawing ofi said volatile constituents asthe coal becomes fully heated from the bottom to the top and finally shutting oli.' the blast to the oven and opening the upper portion of the same to the atmosphere for completing the carbonization of the coal into coke.

In testimony of which invention, l hereunto set my hand.

CHARLES A. WEEKS.

Witnesses:

R. M. KELLY, E. W. SMITH. 

